Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Let's Chop it Up by Kelli Neche

I was sitting in my Spanish 102 class last night when this Caucasian girl sitting beside me asked what was the "politically correct" term for a person with "nappy" hair. Now, mind you, I was sporting a wash and go last night. I wanted to smack the quirky grin off of her face but instead of adding insult to injury by ripping her pink highlights out of her hair, I asked her to Goggle it. For some reason, I regret not tearing her a new one by explaining to her that it was already politically incorrect for her to be asking me these things as she was.

I was extremely offended to say the least but I can't quite put my finger on why. I love being NAP-tural and I could careless about how others perceive it. I have been natural for almost two years now (I got my last relaxer in November of 2010 and big chopped in August 2011) and I'm still getting questions from my mother as to why I decided to change my life. She wants to know why I haven't kept my hair straightened for longer than a week. Guests come into my job and wonder why I cut my long pretty hair. My boyfriend steady inquires about when or if my hair will ever grow back. Frankly, I don't remember anyone else helping me extract protein from the food I consumed to produce healthy hair from my own scalp. I don't remember any of the people who asked me why I went natural writing me a check to get a $65 relaxer, $70 for a trim. I don't remember their scalp burning from the chemicals as soon as it was applied. And lastly, I don't remember them being ME.

When I first BC'd I had my doubts. I can't pretend like I didn't. I wanted my hair to be like the models I saw rocking the kinks and curls that looked SO good! I wanted to look like Ms.Badu and Miss Jilly from Philly. Everything I had built up in my mind about being natural didn't seem to be as amazing as I had hoped. I tried every Miss Jessie's product I could afford and they all SUCKED. I started in on Hair Porn (Youtube) and it began to save my life. Needless to say you can find a tutorial for almost anything on Youtube. If you look at my post Natural Hair: Trend or Trait (http://notoriousstyles.blogspot.com/2012/04/natural-hair-trend-or-trait-by-kelli.html) I posted some Youtube links that will save some of you all's hair lives.

My natural journey didn't start to get better until my first full year when I got used to twisting my hair and learned what products were starting to work well for it. I thought that off bat, since I was natural, my hair would automatically be healthy. Lies. My hair is about a 4a but it gets dry VERY quickly. It's so hard for me to find a great hair moisturizer that isn't an arm and a leg. Surprising Bed Head TIGI shampoos and Hawaiian Silky 14-in-1 helped tremendously. You can find out your curl type at http://www.naturallycurly.com

When choosing products...Try everything once. Chances are if you heard about it and it looks great in random girl's hair, it may work for you.Key word being MAY.

I learned that some of these natural hair models are PHONIES and not to put too much pressure on my hair to grow in an instant.

Keep regular trims every six to eight weeks.

DEEP CONDITION. DEEP CONDITION. DEEP CONDITION.

Protein treatments may smell, but they work.

Remember you went or are deciding to go natural for a reason, stay away from heat. It may very well damage your curl pattern.

Shedding is healthy but do your research to see how much shedding is healthy shedding.